Study Finds Late-Night Senate Jokes Mostly Target GOP

A Media Research Center tally found 45 of 52 Senate candidate jokes on four late-night programs targeted Republicans.

Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Comedy

Study Finds Late-Night Senate Jokes Mostly Target GOP

Live Poll

Do you think late-night comedy treats both political parties fairly?

A Media Research Center study counted 52 jokes about Senate candidates aired from Sept. 8 through Friday on The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Of those, 45 targeted Republican candidates, while seven were directed at a Democrat.

Why it matters

The findings suggest a lopsided pattern in how late-night comedy treats candidates during an election cycle, a question of interest to viewers weighing political media. The Media Research Center argues that the predictability of the targeting reflects a broader pattern in comedy.

Texas Republican Ken Paxton drew 14 jokes, Maine Republican Susan Collins was the target of nine, and Michigan Republican Mike Rogers was targeted six times. The tally covered only jokes about Senate candidates across the tracked period.

The players

Media Research Center

A conservative media watchdog organization that conducts research on news and entertainment media coverage.

David Bozell

President of the Media Research Center who has been an outspoken critic of perceived liberal bias in entertainment and news media.

Ken Paxton

Republican Texas Attorney General who was the most frequent target of Senate candidate jokes in the study.

Susan Collins

Republican senator from Maine who was the target of nine jokes in the study.

The details

The study tracked jokes aired from Sept. 8 through Friday across four named late-night programs. The NY Post reported the findings exclusively after receiving the study from the Media Research Center, whose president David Bozell said late-night comedy is predictable and that nobody should be off limits.

Sept. 8 — Start of the tracked period for the Senate candidate joke count.
Friday — End of the tracked period, with the study released shortly after.

Industry Dynamics

Late-night comedy on broadcast networks operates within the framework of the Federal Communications Commission's equal-time rule, which applies to legally qualified candidates appearing on broadcast stations. This study raises questions about whether comedic targeting by programs on those networks reflects a broader partisan pattern in entertainment.

The four programs named in the study air on broadcast and cable networks and are available through their regular schedules and streaming platforms. Viewers who want to follow the jokes about specific candidates can watch the segments as they air.

The takeaway

Viewers who want to judge political comedy for themselves can compare the programs' output across several weeks rather than relying on a single tally. Checking which candidates appear and how often can help separate isolated jokes from a consistent pattern.